Lecturers at the University of Hong Kong have rounded on their vice-chancellor, claiming a management shake-up would turn his job into a 'dictatorship'.
Vice-Chancellor Cheng Yiu-chung will be given wider-ranging powers under the reforms, including authority over other administrators and the ability to choose and appoint pro-vice-chancellors.
The university's ruling senate backed the changes, which it said would improve administration and management.
The changes aim to streamline procedures by putting decision-making powers in the hands of a small number of executive managers rather than committees. But academic staff say reforms will 'ensure power is vested in a few people'.
In its newsletter, Academic Staff Association members attacked reforms, claiming they would create a 'dictatorship' for a vice-chancellor they said had 'no academic vision' and was 'hostile to academic staff'.
A survey found about half of 200 members interviewed strongly disagreed that reforms would benefit the university.